Luka Modrić among FIFA FIFPRO best World 11 finalists

Luka Modrić (Photo: Светлана Бекетова/www..soccer.ru/CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed | Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International)

Croatian national team captain Luka Modrić is among the 23 footballers nominated for the best team in the world, announced the global association of professional footballers FIFPRO. 

FIFPRO selects the best eleven players in 2023 based on the votes of 28,000 professional footballers, its members.

Competing with the captain of the Croatian national team and Real Madrid midfielder in the midfield are his younger club colleagues Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde, the trio from Manchester City – Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri, and Bernardo Silva – and Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gündoğan. 

Out of these seven midfielders, three will make it to the best lineup.

Joining them will be a goalkeeper, three defenders, and three forwards. The remaining spot will go to the player with the highest number of votes, regardless of their position.

FIFPRO will announce the selected eleven on January 15 in London during the FIFA “The Best” awards ceremony. Players are evaluated based on their performance from December 2022 to August 2023. The English and European champions Manchester City have the most candidates, eight in total. Real Madrid is in second place with seven current players.

Finalists in the FIFA FIFPRO 2023 selection:

GOALKEEPERS: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium), Ederson (Manchester City, Brazil), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa, Argentina).

DEFENDERS: Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands), Eder Militao (Real Madrid, Brazil), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany), John Stones (Manchester City, England), Kyle Walker (Manchester City, England).

MIDFIELDERS: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid, England), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), Ilkay Gündoğan (Manchester City/Barcelona, Germany), LUKA MODRIĆ (REAL MADRID, CROATIA), Rodri (Manchester City, Spain), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid, Uruguay).

FORWARDS: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/Al-Ittihad, France), Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/Bayern Munich, England), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Inter Miami, Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr, Portugal), Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid, Brazil).